Preservation pays off—read stories of family discoveries people have made due to the preservation efforts of others. Piles of old documents sitting around in the attic. Old family keepsakes gathering dust. Each piece of your family’s past has a story to tell, but unfortunately, these stories can be forgotten or lost if steps aren’t taken […]

Almost every family has a collection of papers and artifacts that provides glimpses into their family story. These collections can include anything from great-grandpa’s war medal to a 200-year-old original birth certificate to a photo the family took last summer. While most families intend to pass these items on to their children and their children’s children, the […]

The other articles in this series cover a variety of specific types of family history items. But what about family heirlooms that don’t fall into one of these tidy categories? These heirlooms could include a wide variety of objects of sentimental importance to a family, such as a baby blessing or christening dress, a piece […]

One thing every family seems to have is an abundance of papers. Stacks of paper can accumulate in basements, in desk drawers, and even on kitchen cupboards. Somewhere in the stacks of junk mail, kids’ school papers, and work assignments are often important family memorabilia. Besides your own family’s important papers, you might have collected […]

Photography is changing rapidly. The change from film to digital technology happened in less than four years. Only a very few ever use film for taking pictures anymore. This improvement in digital photography will continue making dramatic adjustments even faster than we can imagine. What does the future hold for digital photography? The first photograph […]

Why are we interested in digital preservation? Individual lifetime events may only last for a moment, but the memories go on forever. Pictures you take of your family or a vacation document the events in your life and are important. Now, more than ever, we collect memories each day that tell the story of our […]

With January 1st approaching, how’s this for a New Year’s Resolution: preserve your family history records online so that future generations can find them. Take your records – prepare now to begin scanning them and putting them online. Bottom line: “If You Don’t Put It Online – Your Descendants Will Not Find It!” It is […]

Imagine receiving over 20,000 photographic slides and an additional 30,000 or more prints or negatives documenting your family history? That is exactly what happened to Jim Greene, Senior Product Manager for FamilySearch, the world’s largest genealogical organization. He described his feelings at receiving the enormous collection and the task of identifying, labeling and storing it […]

During one of the many college vacations that I spent at my Grandma Vesa’s house, I walked into her office to find her sitting on the floor with an old faded box on her lap. She was sifting through several piles of old letters. I asked her about what kind of letters they were. She […]

Many years ago, my mother-in-law produced a video presentation about one of her remote ancestors who immigrated from England. She had visited his birthplace and had slides and photographs of him and the important locations of his life. These photos were scanned and she added a narrative and some music and produced an extremely interesting […]